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Watching people fight and compete against each other sounds good and I’ll admit the way these people fight in UFC looks so awesome that all the people who are watching are left in awe and they start daydreaming about being an MMA fighter themselves. But this is not just for fun and having fame, some people want to become an MMA fighter and here today I am going to show you how to become a MMA fighter, a good one at that. Let’s get one thing out the way, becoming an MMA fighter is hard and it requires constant Pickering persistence to try again and again when faced by failures so always be ready for that. The reason for that is because only millions of people who are aiming to become MMA fighters only a few (hundred or so) will successfully reach their goal and fight in big places like UFC. And the reason for their success will be that they trained day and night and didn’t give up when it was hardest, no they worked harder during those days. Now if you think you have that contributes to how to be a MMA fighter let’s begin this.

Financial troubles

Most of the fighters that are training always work hard and during those early years, they have to take care of everything in their life, not just their dreams. You need to take really good care of your body and train it until it becomes rock solid. You need to have a good diet plan which complements your training and provides you with enough energy which will help you work hard enough. During all this, you need money which always seems to be the main issue for most of the players that are trying to become fighters. According to a study shown at ESPN 65% of the fighters leave this lifestyle because of the financial situations they start to face since every day someone new and better comes and staying ahead of the competition is the only way to make enough money that you won’t have to worry about being financially stable. So, people who can’t make it into the big leagues have to find another job and live their dream while working for a job they don’t want just to earn enough money so that they can put themselves through training. So, if money is not a big issue for you then you won’t have to worry about this thing.

Starting your journey

MMA (mixed martial arts) is a style of fighting done in cages locked up and the winner is declared through a knockout or if someone accepts their defeat ( there are other technical ways to end the match and declare a winner which I will explain later). You have to familiarize yourself with one form of martial arts (there are many of them which you can find online and check who teaches them nearby) and learn it properly enough. One more thing that you should keep in mind is that you need to learn a thing or two about other styles too since it will be dangerous going in without knowing enough since you won’t walk in one piece out of that cage. You have to start working out and get a membership to a gym, it doesn’t have to be a high-class gym like you see stars working out in. Most of the fighters that are in the big leagues used to workout in small gyms and became legends, after all, it’s the effort that counts. Find a good gym with someone who knows how to train people for the fighting style that you like so that you can learn properly from them and start your journey the right way.

Workout and training

Once you have started working out properly and you see that you are fit enough to start your flight training, I would suggest that you divide your time into two parts. One where you work out (important for your body to make better muscles) and the other time where you train in your fighting style. This way you won’t have to be worried about doing all at once and you can have proper rest in between these things which will help you avoid muscle fatigue. When your muscles fatigue you will be really tired and if you work out or train at that time the results won’t be good since you are in shape to train at that time. So, divide these times up and spend enough time on both things since favouring one will result in negative results from the other sides. You can build up your workout routine combined with cardio which keeps your body fat low during the morning time and once you have rested enough and took proper meals you will have sufficient energy to train your body and mind in a certain fighting style that you are going with. This type of routine will keep your morning sessions and night sessions both equally apart and get you enough rest period which is always recommended.

Picking a fighting style

After you have trained for a while you will have to pick a certain fighting style and try to master it as much as you can. Mastering any fighting style will take years and years of practice but if you are persistent enough and keep working on your shortcomings you will be better than most out there which will be enough. Now there can be a debate about which fighting style is better and which one you should go with if you are new to this thing. I think personally MMA is a place where the rules dictate that mastering or knowing any fighting style is not so important but winning is. You need to be careful about what kind of fighting style you are choosing since if you choose one which needs you to have some kind of background and knowledge of basics of stances and other things you will have a difficult time grasping the concepts rather than picking up a style which is strong and good enough for someone who just started in these things

So, you should always research which fighting style you like and experiment around with them, personally fighting styles like Okinawan Kickboxing or jiu-jitsu are one the deadliest fighting styles out there but they are really hard to learn so if you have any background of fighting styles you should go with these but you are always welcome to experiment since every fighting style will feel different and once you find the one you like it will be a lot easier to master that compared to the others. But you should never put all your eggs in one basket so I suggest training a few of them which will help you to know how to counter them if your opponent knows those styles. One tip that I can say is that when studying these styles you should concentrate on how a person will counter these moves and what you will do if they act like that, you should always think 3 steps ahead while learning a certain style.

Nutrition and Diet

Diet is also an important part of becoming an MMA fighter. You can search online How to become an MMA fighter and one thing that you will always notice is that not enough people are stressing over the fact that diet is so important in this that most people forget about diet and start losing muscle due to working so hard and not giving their body enough rest and energy. Some who know about this start eating mindlessly and start to ruin their training since they are not eating what they are supposed to. Becoming a pro-MMA fighter means not skimping on any end whatsoever. you always need to be on top of your game. You always need to be training harder than yesterday and eating better and better each passing day. I have seen people working out so hard that they pass out and vomit at times since their body can’t take all that at once, which helps these people are having a good diet that will support their high demanding working routines and will even grow their body muscles bigger and better.

You can research all about the diet on your own and make your diet plan but if you are training side by side and doing workout session in the morning coupled with a full-time job I doubt you will have the time to research (if you find the time and do it on your own that is certainly the best option to go with) so what I would suggest is hire a dietician or go see a physician which will give a proper diet plan which suits your body. Few tips for the people who are trying to make their diet plan; keep your protein and carbs high, this will help you with muscle building, retaining muscle mass and carbs are for the energy that you will spend working out every day. It may not seem much but you are spending a lot of energy every day working out and if you are working out twice a day for 70-80 minutes session each then you will need some serious calories to maintain your bodyweight. You also need to be careful about the micronutrients since they are really important if you are an MMA fighter. Pro MMA fighters always keep a doctor or someone who knows everything about their diet so that they can consult every little thing that might affect their matches even if it might seem inconsequential at first.

Start fighting

By this time I am sure that you have trained enough to throw a few punches or do moves in the fighting style you picked but I would tell you to train in one thing in particular that you will have to come in a real fight. If you have a good coach he would have already done it to you but if for some reason you don’t have a coach(which I strongly recommend you find) or he didn’t train with you this way, you need to learn how to take hits. Yes, you have to understand how to defend yourself in moments of weakness when the chips are down and you have to take a punch or a kick and how to move enough (since there won’t be much time) to make that hit not so deadly. That is the only way you will become a better fighter.

Once you are confident and if your gym had fighting sessions you might have won a few you will know that you are ready. Now you can start participating in small fights which are usually not aired on TV but are important since that is the only way to reach the top places. You need to be ready to take a serious beating and also give them one if you want to win. No one comes unscathed from these fights unless they are God level fighters which I have not seen in my life. You can ask your coach( which you must have found if you were training all that time) to talk to some people and find a sponsor if you won’t fight in the big contest since that is the only way you are getting into the big leagues. So, first of all, you need to have a few fights that you won under your belt since that is the only way any sponsor would think of helping you out. Then you need to make sure that you are prepared to fight at intermediate levels which you register (it varies from place to place, on where you live) online and sometimes the only way of getting in is to have enough name that they recognize you as a fighter. Now, it’s up to you to train harder, fight harder and take better care of your body since that is the only way to become a pro-MMA fighter. No guide out there on how to become an MMA fighter will help you at the last moment, it will be you and your will to reach the top.